


i feel fine

by CinemaCrush



Category: Descendants (Disney Movies)
Genre: ADHD, Autistic Character, Eating Disorders, F/M, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Multi, Nonbinary Character, Nonbinary Mal, Other, PTSD, Trans Character, Trans Female Character, Trans Female Jane, Trans Male Carlos de Vil, Trans Male Character, because theyre 16 and im not disney, fae!mal, fairy!mal, its rated t for violence and cussing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-05
Updated: 2020-01-04
Packaged: 2021-02-27 11:54:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,563
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22126690
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CinemaCrush/pseuds/CinemaCrush
Summary: Prince Ben didn't invite the VKs to Auradon.Instead, Maleficent found a way to send Mal, Evie, Carlos, and Jay there without anyone in Auradon noticing. The plan was simple: Go undercover as transfer students, steal the wand, come back.Mal didn't think it would be that easy, but it wasn't like she was about to tell her mother that.
Relationships: Ben/Mal (Disney: Descendants), Evie & Jay & Mal & Carlos de Vil
Comments: 3
Kudos: 55





	i feel fine

**Author's Note:**

> hi posing using my hotspot so im rushing so if the tags seem whack its because im panicking
> 
> also everyone is gay n trans because i say so. also nd and autistic. also im playing up some aspects of the movies i wish they used more (like that mal is a fairy or the very real abuse the VKs go through). if you dont like any of that this will not be the story for you
> 
> tw in the whole fic for things like child abuse and its effects
> 
> comments are LOVED!! please know i dont want crit tho, even concrit

Normally when Maleficent needed something from Mal, she sent henchmen. Minions. Sometimes a pigeon. She very rarely made the trip to wherever Mal was herself—especially in the middle of the day.

So, when two of Maleficent’s goons stopped her in the middle of the street, Mal was surprised (and concerned) when she saw Maleficent was with them.

“Mother.” She greeted pleasantly even as she felt a foreboding feeling crawl up her spine. “What are you doing here?”

Her mother smiled. Mal had always admired how her mother’s face always had a tone of pure wickedness to it. Like it never really… turned off. She was only ever malicious and cruel and even a simple smile would tell everyone that could see it that. She wished, in the back of her mind, that maybe once her mother could smile at her with a different smile. One that didn’t show barely hidden distaste. One that didn’t look like she enjoyed the suffering Mal went through.

That wouldn’t be today, though.

“I need you and your...” Maleficent glanced around with a grimace as she looked at Evie, Carlos, and Jay, who all appeared to be seconds away from bolting. “Friends. To meet me in my tower. I have a special mission for you. One that we shall not talk about in public.”

She sneered at a group of onlookers, who ran away.

Mal snickered at their cowardice. They didn’t have to live with her. Otherwise maybe they would learn to tolerate a funny look or two.

Maleficent turned with no further instruction and walked away. Her goons followed behind, but not before each of them sneered at Mal, who sneered back. So she didn’t get along great with her mother’s main bodyguards. Who did she get along with?

“Mal?” Carlos was behind her suddenly. “Do we have to?”

She understood his reluctance. It wasn’t like Maleficent’s tower was a vacation spot, and Maleficent herself wasn’t known for being great company. Still, an order was an order, and disobeying would more than likely be worse than whatever was in store for them. As tempting as it was to brush her off—and Mal might have been persuaded to do so if Maleficent hadn’t delivered the message herself—she knew that for her own safety and the safety of her crew, they had to.

She put a hand on her hip and sighed dramatically as she turned around. “Unfortunately. She seems pretty serious about this one.” She shrugged and pretended to be uninterested, though in truth the mystery was killing her. “Just stay behind me, pup.”

He nodded. She looked to Jay and Evie, who had both decided to do the same as her and appear uninterested. Or maybe they really were uninterested. Even she had trouble telling sometimes.

With a nod she turned back on her heel and began to walk in the same direction Maleficent had gone in.

* * *

“The hell did we do this time?” Jay muttered under his breath to the group as they made their way up a dramatic spiral staircase. The walk to Mal’s place had been quiet, but the foreboding darkness and creepy aesthetics had made them all begin to worry. “I don’t remember doing anything that would piss her off. Do you?” He slapped Carlos’s arm with the back of his hand, overly assertive with his panic.

Carlos shook his head quickly and shrugged. He was sweating badly enough that his hair had begun to stick to his forehead. Out of all of them he had the least amount of experience dealing with Maleficent, and it showed.

On the other hand, the other three couldn’t be in the same room as Cruella alone.

Mal rolled her eyes. Truth be told, though, she was a bit worried too. Meetings with her mother usually meant someone was about to regret being alive. Sometimes that was Mal, but usually it was someone else. They’d never all four been called to her like this. “I haven’t heard anything. This might not be about us, necessarily. Maybe it’s grunt work.”

She tried to be—dare she say it—optimistic, but really… Her crew being called to Maleficent’s tower could only be a bad thing. She just didn’t want them to panic. If they panicked they could make mistakes and they couldn’t afford that. Especially not in front of their parents.

She swung open the final door between them and Maleficent’s ‘lair’ and all four of them paused for a moment as they took in their surroundings.

Oh Evil. All of their parents were there.

“About damn time.” Cruella sneered from her place atop the table. Not at the table, no, cross legged atop it. Even Maleficent didn’t try to stop Cruella’s crazy sometimes. “We’ve been here for hours.”

“You got here ten minutes ago.” The Evil Queen Rolled her eyes as she touched up her makeup. “Evie, be a dear and come hold up my mirror.”

Mal felt the slightest hesitance from Evie, who stood behind her slightly. With a barely seen nod Mal told her to go. The Evil Queen was predictable enough.

The remaining three stepped further into the room, but not to their respective parents. Jay stood securely to Mal’s right and Carlos stood behind her to the left. This stance was more than just reflecting their power in the group—it wasn’t as clear as that. It also meant that Carlos kept an eye on Mal and Jay’s backs, and was given the best vantage point between them. The knife up their sleeve.

In a case like this, though, it also clearly conveyed to even Cruella that Carlos was staying right where he was.

“Now we can really begin!” Maleficent cheered and cackled, which made a cold chill run up Mal’s spine. When Maleficent was happy… Oh boy. What the hell was going on.

“Begin what?” Mal asked with what she hoped was defiance or disinterest.

Maleficent strutted over to their group in possibly the highest spirits Mal had ever seen her in. She placed her hands on Mal’s shoulders and Mal sensed more than saw her crew tense.

The smile Maleficent gave her was wicked and ecstatic. “Why, my dear Mali, you’re going to school, of course!”

Mal cringed at the nickname, but she was intrigued. The adults in the room laughed as if that was some great joke. What did they want with the school? It was mostly run by the second rate villains of the isle and a bunch of kids. Surely nothing Maleficent of all people would need.

Conveying those thoughts to her mother, however, could backfire in many ways. So instead she eloquently asked, “School?”

Maleficent’s eyes narrowed and her grin widened and it was quite possibly the most terrifying look she had ever given her. Mal immediately wracked her brain for more information. Was she missing something? Was this some brilliant plan that she just hadn’t caught on to? Was she in trouble?

All of these thoughts happened within milliseconds as Mal read the situation and decided what to do. In the natural pause between her mother speaking again she had already come to the conclusion that playing dumb would be her best bet anyways.

“Not just any school. Auradon.”

Mal’s eyes widened. “Auradon? How the hell are we going to Auradon?” That was impossible. They were stuck on the Isle indefinitely. There was no way out. And even if there were, why would they be going to school?

Maleficent reached up and pinched Mal’s cheek hard enough to hurt. “The lovely prince--”she said the word like on might say cockroach, “--has kindly invited any child who wishes to attend his school to do so. Across all lands.” Mal realized what her mother meant. The prince had made a Promise that her mother could take advantage of.

Maleficent removed her hand and tapped Mal’s face not hard enough to be considered a slap, but hard enough to obviously not be kind. “With just a little bit of preparation--”

“And one of my mirrors!” The Evil Queen cut in.

“And one of Queen’s mirrors--” Maleficent angrily corrected, “We should be able to send you four straight to Auradon. There you will pose as new kids, get the wand, bring down the barrier, and,” Maleficent put her hands on Mal’s shoulders once again, “We shall finally rule.”

Skepticism about going across the barrier aside, the idea was… intriguing. Mal didn’t want to go to school, especially not prissy princess school, but if her mother was right—which she often was—then… then…

“All four of us?” Mal raised a brow. She had a feeling she knew why, but she had to be sure.

Maleficent’s knowing look confirmed it before her words did. “But of course. They work for you. You work for me. It all works out.”

It was bribery—with perhaps a hint of a threat to back it up.

Mal nodded. Her heart began to beat faster at the idea. Auradon. Auradon. Auradon. A chance at freedom. A chance to win her mother’s pride. A chance to separate all of them from their parents for a bit. A break from bloody turf wars and starvation.

Evie was the only one she could see with Jay and Carlos still behind her. They shared a look, though, and Mal knew the others agreed.

“When do we leave?”

They’d been given less than an hour to pack, but that was fine. It wasn’t like they had a lot of stuff between them. And it was only supposed to be a few days worth of a trip. (Mal somehow doubted that, but that meant trouble in the long run, so she ignored the feeling.)

When they stood, ready for… whatever… Maleficent stepped up to a full-body mirror she had obviously borrowed from the Evil Queen. She mumbled something under her breath and took out two flasks from her coat. One she opened and spilled the contents over the face of the glass as if she were about to set it on fire. The other she passed to Jafar, who passed it to Jay.

“Drink it. Two big sips each.” Maleficent instructed, “This will hide your signature from anyone nearby. Hopefully this means you wont trip any barrier magic.”

“And if we do?” Carlos frowned, and he must have been worried if he was brave enough to ask.

Maleficent smiled unkindly. “Well… We will certainly need a new plan.”

The message was loud and clear. It would probably kill them, and it might be permanent. The barrier and the magic connected to it usually kept them alive and brought them back if they did happen to die, but interacting with the barrier itself was considered dangerous behavior. And if teleportation was involved on top of that…

Mal took her gulps and passed the flask to Evie before she could think to be nauseous. The potion tasted like garbage water and electricity. It very well could have been. Resources were low and only small traces of magic wouldn’t be detected by the barrier.

Maleficent tapped the mirror’s surface with her scepter and everyone gasped, slack-jawed, as the surface rippled like water.

Even Maleficent was silent for a moment as the reality swept over her. After a moment of silence their parents all shared devious grins and laughter that the children couldn’t bring themselves to join in with.

“It’s time.”

The adults looked over them.

Mal paid attention to what their parents said to her crew. She couldn’t stop them, of course, but she liked knowing exactly what was needed for potential damage control later. All of them rarely walked away from their parents unscathed.

Evie’s mother could only talk about princes and not to smile and not to eat and Evil Evie was already so thin. Mal wanted to strangle the Evil Queen, to turn her to stone where she stood and crumble that stone to pebbles with her own hands.

Jafar’s father openly threatened him to bring back the best jewels he could. All the gold he could find. Cutlery, if he must. Mal would tie him up in a barrel full of water and leave him there to drown over and over again.

Cruella, however, was the worst. She fawned over Carlos and insisted she needed him; she loved her little boy, didn’t they know? And she needed him to be around or she would miss him.

Mal tasted blood when she bit her tongue too hard.

Her own mother’s ‘goodbye’ was much more obvious of a threat. She brought Mal in close in what could be considered a hug, if either of them hugged. “Oh, my Mal… Be a good girl and get the wand for mumsy. I know you can do it. And when you do, we’ll rule together.”

Her eyes darkened and her grip on Mal’s shoulders turned sharp enough to hurt. “And if you don’t.” She leaned in close and whispered in Mal’s ear, “If you fail. If you betray me. I will kill them. And I will make sure they know it’s your fault.”

Mal swallowed hard and distantly remembered the garbage water she had probably drank. She nodded and put on a false smile. “Of course, Mother.”

“Now go!”

Without Mal’s opinion on the matter, Maleficent pushed her towards the mirror. Mal knew the command wasn’t a suggestion and allowed herself to fall through the surface. She could hear her crew call out behind her and the wicked laughs of the adults and wondered in the back of her mind if this had been a trick.

She didn’t have the presence of mind to think about that for too long, though. The surface of the mirror had given way almost as if she had jerked awake from a dream. She couldn’t tell what was up and what was down and she felt like she was drowning. All around her was some kind of substance that wasn’t liquid nor was it solid, and it stuck to her like plastic wrap.

Suddenly she was slammed into the ground. She choked and wheezed and tried to move, but the fall had knocked the wind out of her. Her shoulders had taken most of the force and she winced as she tried to roll over. A sharp spike of pain went through her left shoulder.

“Nope. Nope. Staying. Right here.” She wheezed to herself when she realized she definitely wasn’t about to move.

After about ten seconds she realized she wasn’t on the Isle. Th clear blue sky above her and… Was that grass beneath her? Holy shit. It was.

She let out a small laugh, amazed.

Then Jay, followed by Carlos, followed by Evie, fell on top of her.

“What the fuck, Carlos?”

“Sorry, sorry! You’re sitting on my leg!”

“No, you’re sitting on my leg!”

“Heyheyheyheyhey watch the elbows!”

Mal braced herself and stayed still as the trio on top of her scrambled to right themselves. Jay had landed face-first just to her side, enough that most of his body was on top of her but his face had slammed into the ground. Carlos landed on top of him, upside down in relation to Mal. Evie had landed so that her hands and feet slammed into the ground, but her stomach slammed into Carlos.

“Get the fuck off of me!” She finally screamed, which quickly stopped their bickering as all three of them scrambled to get away from her. Usually she spared her crew from her wrath, but she was not happy about putting up with 300 pounds of whining. Also she realized she was wearing a fucking binder and it fucking hurt.

She had also heard Carlos start to wheeze as he complained. She glanced around quickly before she began to yank her tops off. Her shoulder and side flared in pain as she did so, but she needed to breathe. The other two turned their attention to their fourth and quickly ushered him out of his jacket, shirt, and finally his binder as well. Mal put her jacket back on once she could breathe again, but didn’t bother with her shirt.

After a couple deep breaths they were fine, and Mal let out a breath she hadn’t realized she was holding when Carlos sighed in relief. The kid terrified her sometimes—not that she’d admit it. She pointedly ignored Evie and Jay’s concerned looks in her direction.

When all four of them finally regained their bearings, they all looked at the sky. They were in a clearing of some kind with trees and bright green grass all around them, but the clear blue above them held their attention.

After a moment Evie sighed.

“Now what?”

Mal knew the plan, though, and began to tell it to the others. While they had gone home to pack, Maleficent had assured her that every detail had been planned out. They had paperwork, fake identities, fake school transcripts, the works. It should be simple enough to submit the documentation by magicly expediting it through the mail and then showing up to the school.

Hopefully they would be in and out before anyone looked too closely at the papers.

Jay and Evie stood and dusted themselves off while Mal and Carlos put their tops back on. Evie handed Mal her bag, which had fallen off during the teleporting. Mal picked up Carlos’s bag and handed it to him. Jay helped Evie pick up some stuff that had fallen out of her bag.

Mal looked around them and saw a small hill off to the side. She began to walk towards it, since they could probably see better from atop it. “Vantage point.”

The others fell in beside her and they all kept glancing around, mystified by the scenery around them. Even Mal, as she tried to look disinterested, couldn’t help but enjoy the sound of birds around them. It was so weird.

She moved her shoulder gently to assess the damage. It wasn’t dislocated, but she probably pulled something, since the pain reached from her neck to her ribs. Besides that, though, she seemed to be fine. She glanced to the others and saw them all do similar checks.

Evie’s hands were scratched up and her knees were covered in grass stains. She probably had bruises on her knees, but she seemed to be walking fine.

Carlos seemed okay, but he was worried about Jay, whose nose had started to bleed. It wasn’t broken and would probably stop in a minute, so Mal didn’t consider it enough to stop. She kept an eye on him out of the corner of her eye, though. Mostly because Jay was probably the worst about hiding injuries between them.

Finally, they reached the top of the hill. They all just… Stared. Mal wouldn’t say she was impressed, but...

“Holy shit.” Jay whistled, “Is that the school?”

It sure looked different when they weren’t on the Isle. The school was massive even without taking the grounds around it into consideration. They could just barely see the dots of people walking around on the grass in front of the building.

On the other hand, in the distance they could see the Isle. It looked filthy even from a distance; the sickly green of the barrier was more prominent from the outside, apparently, and it looked more like a grease stain on the water than home to hundreds of people.

Mal felt a weird sick feeling in her stomach. She blamed it on the mirror.

“I think we should find a place and make camp. It’ll be dark by the time we get there and they’re not expecting us yet.” The others nodded at her suggestion. The forest around them seemed princess-y and safe, so she had no doubt they could survive for a night. “Carlos, shelter. Evie, fire. Jay, scout.”

Normally Carlos or Evie were the scouts, but they weren’t familiar with this area. Mal didn’t want to risk anything, and Jay—as hot headed as he was—wasn’t likely to get lost.

As the other three set off to do their tasks, Mal took a deep breath and realized, for the first time in their lives, they were truly out from under their parents’ thumbs. Sure, it was mildly possible Maleficent could get to them as they were, but… She wasn’t there. There was no one to report back to her. They were free to do whatever they wanted.

The traitorous thought scared her as much as it freed her. Thoughts like that were no good—they could only lead to trouble. But it was a fact, and she had to face it. What they did now—what she did now—would decide their future. And that was absolutely terrifying.

The next morning they all rose with the sun. It was kind of hard not to, really, when the birds started screaming as soon as the sky lit up. Jay had morning watch, so he was already awake when Mal blinked her eyes open and grimaced.

“Why do princesses like those fucking things.” Mal groaned and rolled over. Jay and Evie snickered somewhere beside her and Carlos snored. Mal kicked him.

“I’m up! Where are we?”

Mal grunted. “Bird Hell.”

Jay nearly fell off the log he sat on when he barked out a laugh. Evie buried her face in her bag-pillow and snorted. Carlos nodded in understanding.

“Rise and shine, Kiddies.” Jay said when he recovered. “Fire’s out and our tracks are covered. Let’s roll out!”

Mal hissed and pulled her jacket over her head. The grass underneath her was cool and wet, but it was also soft. Far softer than concrete in an abandoned building or in a basement. She was not enthusiastic about leaving.

“Doesn’t the school have bedrooms?” Carlos raised a brow, “They’ll have, like, actual beds.”

“Fine.” Mal grumbled as she finally sat up. They went through their morning routines quickly, eager to finally start their real trip towards the school. Once they were ready to go they set off in the direction of the school. They had approximated the trip to land them there about mid afternoon, which meant they would definitely be expected by then. Mal was tempted to try some magic to get them there faster, but after the mirror incident the others weren’t thrilled at the idea. Fair enough.

Still, around noon, she was tired of walking. As… ugh… Pretty as everything was, walking was boring. She hadn’t spray-painted anything in, like, 18 hours. She hadn’t broken anything in longer than that!

She noticed Jay seemed antsier too and she knew he felt similarly. His father demanded he bring home valuables to be allowed back, so it had become second nature for Jay to steal first, ask questions later. With nothing but forest in sight he definitely felt strained.

She also noticed Evie gave her more than one concerned look and raised a brow. Caught, Evie smiled sheepishly. “Your cheeks bruised.”

Ah. the pinching.She rubbed her cheeks and sighed. She pulled out her mother’s spellbook and found a glamour easily enough.

Evie’s eyes lit up. “You know I could--”

“No makeup.”

Evie pouted but didn’t complain. It wasn’t that Mal disliked makeup, she just didn’t like attention on herself. And she didn’t want to encourage Evie to fawn over her. It just stressed her out.

“That brings up a good point, though.” Carlos said. “Are we gonna stand out? What if they know we’re not used to...” He gestured vaguely in the direction of the school.

“We’ll just tell them we’re from a different place.” She shrugged. “Different expectations or rules or whatever.” She rolled her eyes. “Play up the New Kids role. Poor, innocent strangers in a strange land.”

Jay chuckled. “I doubt even we’re good enough to pull off innocent.”

“But we don’t know what the school will be like.” Carlos said with a frown, “What if we seem too weird?”

Of course they had considered that early on, when the plan was first set in motion. They had no idea how different it would be, but it was pretty obvious Auradon would be different than the Isle. There was also keeping their fake backstories accurate, covering for missing parents, and generally being… not evil.

Mal cringed at the thought.

“It’s Auradon. They’ll probably be too nice to say anything if we’re weird. Don’t sweat it too much, just roll with whatever they say.”

The others nodded in agreement and Carlos looked thoughtful. Fair enough, that was definitely a weird thought. They wouldn’t be top dogs and people still might leave them alone. That didn’t happen on the Isle. It would probably be a lot to get used to, and they all individually hoped they could adjust well in time.

“Heeeey, I think we’re here!” Jay said with a grin as he gestured in front of them. Of course they could all see it, too, but it felt more real once he said it. The trimmed hedges and cobblestone walls were a good indecator that they were on school grounds. About time, too. Mal was sick of walking in the overly bright outdoors.

“It’s so fucking bright.” Mal nearly growled as she squinted across the grounds. She could feel a headache beginning to start right behind her eyes and they hadn’t even met anyone yet. Everything seemed so much more saturated. The sky, the grass, even the buildings seemed to almost glow. Was that just how Auradon was, or was everywhere that wasn’t the Isle like this?

“Are their uniforms baby blue?” Carlos sneered as he watched some band kids pass by them, several of them casting curious glances at the group.

Evie snapped to attention at this. “No one said anything about uniforms.”

Mal rolled her eyes but internally laughed a bit at the way Evie seemed to sweat over the idea. “Details, guys. Let’s not lose our minds before we start, okay?”

They were silent, which Mal accepted.

When they reached the front of the school, near where they assumed the cars drove through, they saw a figure walk towards them.

“You must be the transfers!” Ben said with a smile. “Welcome! I’m Ben.”

Must be, Mal mused to herself. Even when they were toned down they stuck out compared to the rest of the campus. Mal had decided to spell her ears to look like normal human ears, but she’d kept her purple hair. Her eyes were a more muted green, just in case. Her faux-leather (Fur and leather made Carlos uncomfortable) black jacket over a lime green tank top and dark purple skinny jeans were as far as she was willing to stray from her usual look. One of her converse was purple and the other was an eye straining lime green.

She also thought it odd that Ben introduced himself as just Ben. This was obviously the prince, wasn’t that kind of important? Sure, he went to school with the other kids, but did he actually consider himself on the same level as the rest of them?

The thought was both intriguing and sickening.

“I’m Mal.” She said with a smile she doubted he could tell was fake. She took his offered hand. “It’s great to be here!”

She almost wished he was in on the joke.

“I’m Evie!” Evie also took his hand. Her medium blue jacket over a light blue shirt and dark blue skinny jeans were fairly toned down compared to her usual flashy clothing, but she wore several silver bracelets and necklaces that sparkled in the light. Definitely attention-grabbing and princess-y.

“Jay.” Jay’s torn denim jeans and baggy red basketball tank top weren’t an unusual look on him. The most out of place thing on him was his hair, which he had put up and stuffed under a beanie. Long strands still fell in front of his ears showing they were there.

“So you must be Carlos.” Ben beamed at the youngest, who smiled politely back.

Carlos’s hoodie was black with white accents. His skinny jeans were half white, half black. His shoes were red sneakers. Honestly he and Mal were almost dead giveaways for who they were, but it wasn’t like they thought Auradon would jump straight to thinking they were Villain Kids. That was kind of a reach. “Must be.”

“I’m going to show you around today!” Ben flashed a charming grin. “If you have any questions, feel free to ask. We want to make your transition to this school as smooth as possible.” He grabbed the front of his jacket and jerked his head in the direction of the school. “Right this way!”

They followed behind him even though it made Mal’s skin crawl a bit. She was used to walking beside someone, even if they were showing her the way, or in front of them. No one on the Isle was stupid enough to show their back to her anyways. She glanced at the others and saw similar looks of apprehension on their faces. This could almost be seen as a power move if it wasn’t just… so fucking stupid.

As Ben showed them through the halls, with the patience to take each of them through their schedules, even, Mal couldn’t help but be a bit impressed. Not that she would ever, ever say so. But… The building wasn’t falling apart. And most of the kids they were introduced to seemed… friendly. It was so weird and so interesting.

Still, she couldn’t let herself get caught up in it. There were here to betray these people, after all. This place would probably go down in flames.

She felt a sense of satisfaction at the thought.

“These are the girls’ dorms.” Ben said as they entered a new wing. “Now, curfew is 11—Fairy Godmother is pretty strict about it—but at 10 the rooms are enchanted to deny access to boys in the girls wing and girls in the boys wing.”

Mal quirked a brow. “And that information is based off of…?”

“Oh.” Ben waved his hand in the air, “Don’t worry, it’s not biological. The magic just knows, somehow. I’m not magic so honestly I don’t know how it works. If there ever is a problem, though, Fairy Godmother can fix it. It’s happened before.”

Okay, fair enough. And that was all she wanted to talk about on the topic.

The girls dropped off their stuff in their room before they followed the boys to the other wing.

“This is my room.” Ben pointed to the room at the very beginning of the hall. “Your room is two doors down… here.”

He opened the door and Mal was _pissed_.

“They get this!?” She tried not to screech as she took in the room. This was so not fair. “What the hell?”

Ben winced. “What’s the matter?”

“What’s the matter?!” She turned on him, incredulous. “We got sewing machines. They have a TV the size of their beds.” She regarded him with wide eyes. “Seriously?”

He plastered a smile on his face, but she could tell he was a bit bothered. “Oh, okay. No problem, then. Just, uh, how about you make a list of stuff you’d like that the boys dorms have, and I’ll pass it onto Ol’ FG for you?”

She narrowed her eyes at him but eventually relented. “Yeah, sure. Thanks.” She barely ground out the last word, but she knew she had to backpedal a bit. As wrong as it was, she definitely shouldn’t get onto the prince.

Meanwhile Carlos and Jay had happily settled into their room. Carlos had sprawled across his bed while Jay fiddled with the TV remote.

“Uh, if we could end the tour here,” Evie said with a hesitant smile, “I’m tired from the trip.”

“Oh, of course!” Ben stepped out of the room. “Dinner is...” He pulled out his phone and checked the time. “About two hours from now, at 6. It lasts for an hour, but the cafeteria stays open until 8.” He flashed them another smile. “I’ll see you all then!”

Mal wondered if they should say something, but the prince seemed satisfied with the conversation as he walked down the hall.

Evie closed the door and stared at those in the room.

“I’m impressed, Mal.” Jay said with a smug grin, “You waited until the end of the tour to start a fight.”

“It wasn’t a fight. It was a verbal strongly worded letter.”

Carlos snorted.

“Well, I actually am tired.” Evie said as she rubbed at her eyes. “If we’re not doing anything else before dinner...” She left the sentence open, but Mal knew what she wanted.

“Go ahead, E. Get your beauty sleep.” She waved her off and ignored the grateful smile Evie sent her. “Carlos needs it too. Meanwhile, I’m gonna go for a walk.”

Jay made a face. “You want me to come with?”

“I can handle myself. I’ll be good.” She rolled her eyes. “I just don’t want to sleep before dinner.”

She was exhausted and didn’t think she’d manage to wake up for dinner, even if she was starving. A walk around the grounds would at least keep her awake.

“I’ll meet you guys here… Fifteen til?”

They all nodded in confermation and Mal mock saluted lazily as she turned to follow Evie out the door.

“Later, losers.”


End file.
